“Didn’t I tell you to stay in the ward to rest? Why are you outside?” Xia Qingyi did not know when, but Mo Han had already returned and was standing behind her.

“Hm?” Xia Qingyi turned her head back to look at him.

“What are you doing here? Who let you out of bed?” Mo Han’s expression did not look good.

Xia Qingyi turned her head around again to look at herself in the glass mirror and did not answer Mo Han, remaining silent.

Mo Han looked at her, and seeing that she kept staring at herself in the mirror, he started to understand something, and lowered his tone. “Don’t look at it anymore. It’s windy outside, let’s go back.”

Mo Han pulled at her hand forcefully and made her turn back towards the ward. Xia Qingyi obediently followed behind him. She walked as she stared at her feet with her head lowered.

“Help me buy a scarf then,” Xia Qingyi said lightly.

“Yes.”

“I saw those on my neck… I feel disgusted,” Xia Qingyi said with her head down.

Mo Han stopped walking. “It’s those people who are disgusting, not you.”

“I want to bathe, my body is dirty,” Xia Qingyi was almost always gritting her teeth as she said the word ‘dirty’.

“The injuries on your body are not healed yet.”

“I want to bathe.”

“No.”

“I want to bathe!”

“I said no means no!”

Xia Qingyi panted, and flung Mo Han’s hand away from hers. “Go away! I’ll go back myself!”

Mo Han pulled at her hand and did not let go.

“You want me to injure this hand even more, you think that my injures from when I was tied to that pillar weren’t serious enough, don’t you?!”

Mo Han loosened his hold slightly, and Xia Qingyi took this chance to fling his hand away. The atmosphere between the two of them became tense. Seeing that Xia Qingyi was becoming more and more irritable, Mo Han remained silent.

“Why don’t you let me bathe? Don’t you think I’m dirty?! Don’t you feel disgusted looking at the markings on my neck?!” Xia Qingyi said loudly, keeping her eyes on Mo Han as she pointed to her own neck using her right hand.

“You saw them, right?! You saw every single marking on my body, right?! You know how dirty I am, why don’t you let me bathe!”

In the hospital corridor, Xia Qingyi howled loudly as tears flowed down her face.

The air seemed to turn silent, and some of the passers-by stopped to look at the agitated and pale-faced Xia Qingyi standing in the middle of the corridor, her arm in a plaster.

Mo Han hugged her in front of everyone, patted her back and placed her head onto his neck and let her cry.

“Alright, if you want to bathe, then bathe. You can bathe as long as you want,” Mo Han said gently into her ear.

“But you can’t let water go into the injuries on your head. I’ll find someone to help you shampoo, alright?” Mo Han said.

“Brother… I really feel extremely dirty and disgusting. I… was just thinking about how I lay on the ground that day… that man… he…” Xia Qingyi cried intermittently, “I want to throw up… I think about what happened that night when I saw these markings… I can’t forget it no matter how hard I try…”

Mo Han felt his heart twist, and he could not hold himself back from kissing Xia Qingyi’s hair. “Blame me, it’s my fault for not coming earlier, I’m sorry.”

Xia Qingyi shook her head. “Brother… I shouldn’t have gone out that day… It was I who didn’t listen to you, you didn’t like me going out to play, so I ran out on purpose because I wanted to make you angry. It was my fault, I shouldn’t have gone out…”

“No… blame me. I promise, there won’t be a next time, I’ll protect you, I won’t let you get hurt anymore.” Mo Han hugged her tightly.

Mo Han felt that every single sentence Xia Qingyi said was a reminder of his foolish actions that night. If he had not distanced himself from Xia Qingyi on purpose, and refused to pick up the phone, then perhaps the ending would not have become like this.

It was a pity that ifs did not matter in this world.

Past mistakes could not be changed. Mo Han could only do his best to make up for it in the future. There would no longer be anymore situations like this, Mo Han thought to himself.

I will always protect you for every single day in the future.